The Cold Queen Bee
by LazyKT
Summary: Elsa learns how dangerous her powers are as a child. When her parents take her future away by confining her to the castle, she makes a decision: to leave the kingdom. She grows up in isolation, with some negative effects. Back at home, Queen Anna, has to deal with her own crisis; hundreds of her people have going missing. (AU with ideas based on original "Snow Queen" fairytale)
1. Prologue

What started as seemingly harmless fun, ended in tragedy. Had her parents not acted fast enough, Elsa would have lost her dear sister. She and her family had just returned to the castle, unsure of what to do next. Elsa felt terrified of her own power that she once payed little heed to. A week passed when her parents came to her, giving her gloves and announcing that she would be confined to the castle for the foreseeable future. She ran off to her room, which she no longer shared with her sister, to cry. Elsa didn't know what she could do. She didn't want to harm others, but just the same, she wanted a _future_ too. A future, of which to her eyes, had just been denied from her. She was doomed to be alone. Lonely, stifled, and an outcast.

But eventually the small girl had an idea: if she was doomed to be alone, then why should she be confined to these walls when the snow-capped mountains, not too far away, seemed endless in their boundaries. Elsa left home that night retreating quietly beyond the kingdom's horizon. When her parents awoke with her nowhere to be found, they turned the kingdom on its head, looking for her. It was a matter of her safety, and the people's. They never found their eldest daughter. Years of grief wore on them, accelerating their aging, and inevitably leading to their premature deaths.

She trudged through the mountain path, starting to feel her journey was hopeless. It was not the bitting cold that was wearing at her, (her powers seemed to negate that) but the tired ache in her legs. She came to a halt between two peaks with harsh winds assaulting her from every direction. She shielded her eyes as dust-like snow was whipped about around her. If she was going to live out in this mess, she would need some kind of home. She decided to try and use her powers then and there. She waved her hand in front of her, concentrating as hard as she could. In front of her appeared a sort of snow "brick". Then she made another, and another, and another, until she had enough to stack into a small little hut.

Now shielded from the snow, she sat in her small dark shelter, remembering her family, and began to regret her decision. She missed her sister, and her mother and father, and family dinners, and all the things that made her childhood wonderful. She had to remind herself that even if she were at the castle, those things where no longer possible. She slept that night and had a dream, a dream of little bees, ones that didn't hurt her but did as she said. She was their queen bee.


	2. Chapter 1

It was early in the morning and Anna didn't want to leave bed. The now seventeen-year-old queen wanted to enjoy her last year of being a "child" rather than dealing with the complex social and political problems of her time. She knew, the second anyone found out she was up, it was going to be the beginning of another day of stress and worry.

She sat up and looked out her window to the mountain range just beyond the kingdom. In the last few years, someone had slowly erected a menacing fortress between the most distant two peaks on the horizon. This encroaching tower was one source of her many stresses. No one knew who owned it, as it was seemingly abandoned. But, anyone who got too close to the thing disappeared for good.

She and her advisors didn't know if it was an enemy nation trying to weaken her kingdom for the taking or an insurgent group. One had suggested that it was of a supernatural nature, but Anna didn't have time for such ridiculous fancies, though she wished she did. Too many of her people were disappearing. If not to the castle… then to the swarms.

There had been reports within the last two years of people disappearing in the middle of the night, never to be found again (this seemed to be a big problem as of lately). Witnesses would describe a strange sound, reminiscent of a swarm of insects before the victims were taken. It was too much for the kingdom to handle.

First of all, she felt awful for the families who had to endure the losses, but that wasn't what would destroy Arendelle. With so many people gone, the country's economy was in great danger. Two hundred jobs were now left vacant with no one to fill them. There weren't enough fishermen to catch fish, which meant the families couldn't eat. There weren't enough tailors to sew, which meant the families went cold. There weren't enough carpenters or bricklayers or blacksmiths, and Anna was feeling defeated.

She battled these problems every day and while she could slow the inevitable crash, she had yet to find a way to stop it.

A banging came at the door. Outside, a frantic maid yelled "ANNA! YOUR MAJESTY! THE COUNCIL NEEDS YOU IMMEDIATELY!"

Anna rolled her eyes. They always needed her. What could be so urgent that they couldn't just wait until she came to them herself. Regardless, there was no rolling over and going back to sleep now. She slipped out of bed. "I will be down as soon as possible Ingrid," she comforted the poor maid.

She got dressed as quickly as possible and ran through the grandiose halls of the castle as quickly as she could before slowing to a walk. A queen couldn't be caught running. She walked gracefully into the council chamber, taking her place at the head of the table. The members of the council all bowed or curtseyed before sitting.

"Alright then, what do we have to discuss this morning?" She prompted, holding the hand out to her right. Madame Ludic, the leader of the women's union, went first.

"Your Majesty, many women around the kingdom have reported strange sounds during the night and fear for their families. I would suggest increasing patrols to put them at ease."

Anna was alarmed, "Were these strange sounds related to our kidnapping issue?"

"These were not the sounds of the swarms, Your Majesty." Madame Ludic bowed her head respectfully, knowing all too well how much the swarms worried her queen.

"Very well, I will consider your proposal, Madame." Anna nodded her head to the next person sat at the table, Sir Gerald, her Minister of Agriculture.

"The people grow restless with the lack of food, Your Majesty. I believe it might be time to start considering the possibility of….. importing food." Sir Gerald said gravely.

Arendelle had always been a prosperous, self-sufficient country. Until these crises began two years prior, it would other kingdoms that would come to them for aide. She hated the idea of importing and that is why Sir Gerald hesitated to suggest it. As much as she wanted to yell at him for suggesting the idea, Anna could not let her pride get in the way of her people's well being.

"Yes, I believe you are right, Sir Gerald. Please, make the arrangements. My people will not go hungry and longer."

The rest of the council meeting went as usual, with complaints and yelling. Fortunately, it eventually came to an end and Anna, after gracefully leaving the room, bolted for the undercroft. She snuck over to a pile of hay and brushed it away to reveal a crate.


End file.
